Logano captures second-straight Nationwide Series win in Dover

Joey Logano earned his second-straight NASCAR Nationwide Series victory at Dover International Speedway on Saturday by winning the OneMain Financial 200.

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By Scott Goss

Smyrna/Clayton Sun-Times

By Scott Goss

Posted Sep. 29, 2012 at 6:48 PM
Updated Sep 29, 2012 at 6:53 PM

By Scott Goss

Posted Sep. 29, 2012 at 6:48 PM
Updated Sep 29, 2012 at 6:53 PM

Dover, Del.

Joey Logano took the lead for a second time after Lap 50 at the OneMain Financial 200 in Dover on Saturday and never looked back.

The 22-year-old driver of the No. 18 SportsClips Toyota went on to win his seventh Nationwide Series race of 2012, after leading the race for a total of 184 laps.

It was his second-career win at Dover International Speedway, and follows his first win here in June.

"I told [crew chief] Adam [Stevens] that my monster trophy from last time was lonely and needed a friend, so I'm glad I was able to get one for him," he said after the race. "This is my favorite race track so I feel like I have a pretty good point of view about what I have to do."

Logano will race in the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota in 43rd annual AAA 400 in Dover on Sunday, but Saturday's race was the last for the SportsClips car this year.

Saturday's race started with Darrell Wallace Jr. (20) in his first pole position in four NASCAR Nationwide Series races, after finishing with a qualifying lap of 23.091 seconds.

He became the first African-American to win the pole in the Nationwide Series and the youngest driver to win a pole in the series at Dover.

The 18-year-old wasn't able to hold the lead for long, however,

Justin Allgaier (31), who started the race in second, jumped out to take the lead in the first lap and held it until Lap 14, when Logano took his first lead of the day.

Logano managed to stay in front for the next 34 laps, only to cede the top spot to Kasey Kahne (38) for three laps before regaining the advantage at Lap 51 immediately following a caution flag.

No driver was able to overtake him from there.

"There was a little cat-and-mouse play going on there for sure" Logano said. "Sometimes, [Kahne] would be fast and I would wonder if he was saving his stuff hoping there was a caution. Then we were both doing that kind of back and forth. It was definitely fun and exciting."

By the midway point, Logano was leading Allgaier by 1.732 seconds, followed by Kahne, who was 2.128 seconds behind.

A second caution flag came out in Lap 117 after smoke began pouring from the tires of Jeremy Clements (51) Chevrolet, who was trailing in 30th place.

Following the caution, Sam Hornish (12) managed to edge out Kahne for third place, but neither he nor Allgaier were able to gain an edge over Logano.

Allgaier was forced into the pit around Lap 141 after experiencing trouble with his left rear wheel, allowing Hornish to move into second and Kahne into third.

They held those positions through Lap 166 when Hornish headed into pit row with flat tire, leaving Kahne and Austin Dillon (3) to chase Logano.

Page 2 of 2 - "Stuff happens," said Hornish, who finished 18th. "It's a shame. I'm not sure if we would have caught [Logano] or not, but we were closing in on him."

A puff of smoke blew out of Tim Andrews (39) Mustang, bringing out the third caution flag of the race at Lap 178.

Six laps later, Kahne's car appeared to fail him as he dropped deep into the standings, while Dillon also struggled.

That left Paul Menard (33) in second and Michael Annett (43) in third, while Nationwide Series' point leader Elliott Sadler (2) finished fourth.

Sadler now leads by 9 points in the standings over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (6), who finished ninth in Dover on Saturday.